Pages

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

I'd Like to Place a Call

Bell Telephone used this idealized image of the telephoneoperator in its publications; World War I era

In January 1921, a trade
journal called the Union Telephone
Operator made its debut. It hit the
ground running, Vol. 1, No. 1, with an editorial that surely provoked J. Edgar
Hoover:

The
trade unionist is interested in other things than shop conditions. Every economic, political and social question
attracts him. This type of worker is not
favored by anti-union employers, anti-union newspapers, anti-union business
men, anti-union bankers and their political agents . . . Those
interests want a slave class, not in name but in fact.

Although the FBI would not be
formally established for another few years, in 1921 Hoover was chief of the General
Intelligence Division within President Warren Harding’s Department of
Justice. There he dedicated himself to
rooting out radical political activity and oversaw the Palmer Raids, through
which more than 500 foreign nationals were arrested and deported.

In light of the focus on “Reds” –
Communists, Bolsheviks, anarchists and leftists – unions inevitably fell under
scrutiny.

Agitate!
Educate! Organize! The goal of the new journal was to inspire
telephone operators to demand better wages, better hours, and better working
conditions. The workers were largely
women and had been since 1878 when the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company hired a woman named Emma Nutt. The job appealed particularly to women who
did not wish to work in manufacturing.

But problems existed. The women had to conform to certain body
proportions because they worked in very tight quarters. They were required to maintain perfect
posture throughout nine-hour shifts.
They were not allowed to speak to each other and always had to be
patient and polite, even to rude customers.
These were several of the indignities.

Switchboard operators, 1914(Source: Library of Congress)

In 1892, the operators became
members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. They had no
voice, however, largely because men feared “petticoat rule.”

Then, in 1918, activists formed a Telephone
Operators’ Department within the IBEW.
Julia O’Connor, the daughter of Irish immigrants, led the new
department. A determined strategist and talented
writer, she had worked as a telephone operator since 1908 until she became
disgusted and left to be an organizer.

Among O’Connor’s victories
was the 1919 telephone operators’ strike in Boston. In a way, the strike brings to mind the New
York City Blizzard of 1888, which brought daily life to a dead stop for more than a
week. During the 1919 Boston telephone
operators’ strike, communications ground to a halt for two days, which
paralyzed New England.

The outcome of the Boston telephone
operators’ strike affected the local only, although it inspired operators nationwide. The local came away with higher wages, an eight-hour day, and the right to
organize. But the strike also convinced the telephone company that it couldn’t
afford to depend on the operators.

Indeed, the heyday of the
telephone operator had already passed.
Even in the first issue of the Union
Telephone Operator, Julia O’Connor explained why: the advent of “the
automatic” – also known as the dial telephone.

The union assured telephone operators
that their services would be needed for at least another generation, as it
would take a long time to phase in the automatic system. In fact, operators continued to handle many
local calls and all long distance calls.
And it wasn’t till 1954 that New York Telephone finally abandoned the
switchboard, as shown in this amusing instructional film, “How to Dial
Your Telephone": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuYPOC-gCGA

The Union Telephone Operator did not last long. Its final issue appeared in December
1922. Julia O'Connor wrote many of the articles, expressing chagrin that American laborers lived in the "back wash" of World War I.

1921 sketch of a telephone operator

On immigration she was ambivalent, even as the daughter of
immigrants. The Johnson Quota Act of 1921 restricted immigration from eastern and southern Europe.By and large, organized labor supported these
restrictions because immigrants would work for less money than would unionized
workers.

But she celebrated the Sheppard-Towner Act, which funded health clinics to provide maternity and child care. O’Connor knew from the 1920 census that more women than ever – over 8 million – occupied the
workforce. Like most labor activists,
she lobbied for a safety net for women and children. Sheppard-Towner passed in 1921.

And Julia O’Connor was not without
a certain sense of humor. On the back page of one issue, a “Marriage Notice” appeared:

Miss
Low Wages and Mr. Nonunion Worker were married at the home of the bride,
Industrial Centers. Mr. 100% Profit
Employer, the father, gave the bride away without any ceremony. Mr. Longer Hours blessed the union.

Scandal
mongers are circulating the rumor that the couple are not happy because the
newly wed husband has been flirting with Miss Join D. Union. The bride’s father however is reported to be
opposed to any talk of divorce.

1 comment:

Oh, how things come full circle. Today's kids also would need a primer on how to dial a telephone.You also point up why organized labor has has such a hard time defending its gains ins this country. The pressure against it is very real.